


salt on my lips

by Pawprinter



Series: 500 Follower Celebration on Tumblr [1]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, F/M, Fix-It, Love Confessions, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-11-01 22:37:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20530589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pawprinter/pseuds/Pawprinter
Summary: Arya is sailing west. Gendry decides to join her.





	salt on my lips

**Author's Note:**

  * For [teeandrainbows](https://archiveofourown.org/users/teeandrainbows/gifts).

> This is written for my lovely friend queen––sansastark on Tumblr, and it is part of my 500 Follower Celebration!
> 
> She sent in the prompt “Arya shows up at Storm's End to be with Gendry after the end of the series to be with him,” and while I didn’t do EXACTLY that, there’s pieces there.
> 
> I hope you enjoy! Comments and kudos are appreciated.

The water lapped at the sides of the boat. The air was humid and salty, and every once and a while, droplets of water would spray at Arya’s face.

Home. She was home.

No, this wasn’t the same home that she had been working so hard to get back to over the last few years. It was a home she built for herself. 

She had spent so long fighting and running. Most of her life was surrounded by enemies, or by people wanting to see her fail.

Not here.

Not on her ship.

She could hear the crew walking behind her, their shoes hitting the wooden deck with a clap. Voices drifted from further up the deck, to where a handful of crew members were joking with each other.

Arya idly wondered why they came with her. For adventure? For glory? Or, were they like her; they had nowhere in particular to go, so might as while keep moving?

There was something grounding about the crash of the ocean around her.

_ Grounding. _

It was almost funny. To feel truly grounded, she had to go to a place with no ground at all.

Her mouth curled with a smile.

A warm pair of lips brushed against the side of her head, and an equally warm pair of arms wound around her shoulder. She leaned into the hold easily, the tension in her shoulders melting away.

“M’lady.”

Arya gasped and turned in his hold, catching the tail end of Gendry’s teasing expression.

“Hey,” she said, trying to keep her voice firm. “I thought we agreed — no more of that.”

Her annoyed facade cracked and she laughed. There was something about being free from everyone and everything that allowed her to laugh louder and smile easier.

“ _ You  _ said no more of that,” he pointed out. He stepped up to the railing beside her, his shoulder still brushing against hers. “What are you smiling about?”

“It’s nothing.” Which was true, by the way. It was nothing of importance.

She watched Gendry out of the corner of her eye, a warm flutter in her chest.

_ She loved him. _

He told her first and it felt like a lifetime ago. Things had been so different back then — with a war brewing, her named the saviour of Westeros, her family in conflict.

She hadn’t been sure then. She didn’t know who she was yet, between all the chaos. She didn’t know what she wanted.

Arya did know that she didn’t want to just be a lady in her castle. When Gendry proposed, she couldn’t say yes, even if she yearned to spend ages with him.

She wanted to be in the world, exploring, fighting, breathing. She wanted to be sailing on a ship to nowhere, sea salt making her hair curl, water misting her face.

Gendry wanted to be with her experiencing all those things. She thought he would’ve chose his title over her, but—

“I made that mistake once,” he told her, referring to the Brotherhood. “I won’t make it again.”

They left and hadn’t looked back.

“I love you,” she admitted softly. It was the first time the words had left her lips. She expected them to feel foreign, but it was the exact opposite.

_ Saying them felt right. _

Gendry continued to leisurely look out at the rolling waves alongside her, seemingly not thrown by her confession. “I know,” he said. “You didn’t need to tell me. I could tell.” He turned to her, his eyes searching her own. “We’ve been through a lot together, haven’t we?”

Their time on the run and hiding while children, all the late night conversations under the stars, the times they stood beside each other, willing to die for the other, and their separation.

Then their reunion, the time they spent getting to know each other again, kissing against Winterfell’s walls, the proposal, and everything in between.

“We have.” 

Arya’s eyes flicked to his face. Out of all the expressions she had studied in her years, his were the most endearing to her. The way his eyes would crinkle when he laughed, the way his lips would curl with a smile, the way his jaw clenched when he fought.

“We still have a lot of sea ahead of us,” he commented. His eyes swept over her face, his gaze softer than hers. “And, after that, land. Mountains. Cities. We have a lot more time together.”

“As long as we want,” she echoed.

Gendry’s hand was warm on hers, the pads of his fingers worn from years of work. 

Her words reminded her of a conversation she had with the man beside her, months ago, before they set sail. It was the first time they spoke in months, not having had the time to privately speak while they were in King’s Landing for the trial. 

Storm’s End was grey behind them and the sea stretched outwards. It felt like she’d been swallowed by the sky; the stars were bright over her, and equally as bright in the reflection of the water lapping at her toes.

She told him that she planned to leave — to sail west.

_ “What about your family?” he asked her. _

_ “I told you before. You’re my family.” She couldn’t recall a time where she’d been more open with anyone. The last time she could remember being this emotionally vulnerable was with Gendry, when he was planning on joining the Brotherhood. Her words then were an echo of the words now. “Besides,” she continued, “I’ll go back and visit them. This adventure won’t last forever.” _

Now that she was on the boat, she almost wished the adventure could last forever. She loved her brothers and sister, she did, but  _ this  _ was the life she chose for herself, not one she was born into.

He knew her better than she gave him credit for. Sensing her spiralling thoughts, he moved forward and pressed a firm kiss to her temple. She settled beside him.

They both agreed — the best way to live their lives wasn’t to think too far into the future. She couldn’t worry about returning home yet, not when they hadn’t hit land. 

“Come on,” he said, tugging her away from the railing. “You promised me that you’d spar with me.”

She laughed, forgetting her worries. “You’re on.”

It was a good life with Gendry, and it wasn’t over yet.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on Tumblr [here!](https://pawprinterfanfic.tumblr.com/)


End file.
